Within the construction industry, workers can often find themselves located in a remote area, with no access to a work surface needed for the job in hand. As a result, ad-hoc work surfaces are often improvised out of necessity. However, it will be appreciated that this is not an ideal solution, due to health and safety and insurance issues. To prevent such issues arising, the choice is often to return to base to carry out even the most simple of mechanical tasks, despite the fact that it often results in the loss of a substantial amount of production time.
UK Patent No. GB2279866 describes a work surface mounted in a vehicle which is movable by sliding and pivoting between a storage position and a use position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,748 describes a vehicle tool platform where the plane of the platform is at a height generally level with the floor of the van to which the work platform apparatus is to be secured. The other end of the platform is adapted to be received and secured by a rear trailer hitch of the vehicle. However, in both of these patents the work surface has the disadvantage of being permanently affixed to a vehicle.
It will be appreciated therefore that it is very desirable to be able to use a variety of work tools on remote sites where no supporting infrastructure is available.